Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 55, Shloka 1

अकम्पन-प्रेषणम् तथा कपि-राक्षस-रणवर्णनम्

Akampana Dispatched; The Vanara–Rakshasa Battle and Omens

Devanagari script

वज्रदंष्ट्रंहतंश्रुत्वावालिपुत्रेणरावणः ।बलाध्यक्षमुवाचेदंकृताञ्जलिमुपस्थितम् ।।।।

Transliteration

vajradaṃṣṭraṃ hataṃ śrutvā vāli-putreṇa rāvaṇaḥ |

balādhyakṣam uvācedaṃ kṛtāñjalim upasthitam ||6.55.1||

Translation

ဝဇြဒံသျှတြသည် ဗာလီ၏သားလက်ချက်ဖြင့် သေဆုံးသွားကြောင်း ကြားသိရသောအခါ ရာဝဏသည် မိမိရှေ့တွင် လက်အုပ်ချီလျက် ရပ်နေသော စစ်သူကြီးအား မိန့်တော်မူ၏။

Word by Word

• शीघ्रम्: quickly
• शीघ्रम्: क्रियाविशेषण
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शीघ्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: अव्यय (क्रियाविशेषण)

• निर्यान्तु: let them go out/march out
• निर्यान्तु: क्रिया (आज्ञा)
• Type: Verb
• Root: निर् + या (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (आज्ञार्थ/Imperative), प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचन, परस्मैपदम्

• दुर्धर्षाः: hard to assail
• दुर्धर्षाः: विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दुर् + धर्ष (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; राक्षसाः इति विशेषणम्

• राक्षसाः: Rakshasas
• राक्षसाः: कर्ता
• Type: Noun
• Root: राक्षस (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• भीमविक्रमाः: of terrible prowess
• भीमविक्रमाः: विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: भीम + विक्रम (प्रातिपदिके)
• Form: कर्मधारय: भीमः विक्रमः येषाम्; पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; राक्षसाः इति विशेषणम्

• अकम्पनम्: Akampana
• अकम्पनम्: कर्म (object of पुरस्कृत्य)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अकम्पन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन (proper name)

• पुरस्कृत्य: having put in front; leading with
• पुरस्कृत्य: पूर्वकालक्रिया/उपाय
• Type: Verb
• Root: पुरस् + कृ (धातु) → पुरस्कृत्य (क्त्वान्त)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्ययकृदन्त; 'placing in front/leading with'

• सर्व: all
• सर्व: विशेषण (in compound)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समासपूर्वपद (in compound); अव्ययप्राय-विशेषण

• शस्त्र: weapons
• शस्त्र: सम्बन्ध (in compound)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शस्त्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; समासपूर्वपद

• प्रकोविदम्: skilled in all weapons
• प्रकोविदम्: विशेषण
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्र + कुश्/कविद (प्रातिपदिक: प्रकोविद)
• Form: तत्पुरुषसमास: सर्वेषु शस्त्रेषु प्रकोविदः; पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; अकम्पनम् इति विशेषणम्

Context

On hearing about Vajradamshtra being killed by Vali's son, Ravana spoke to the chief of the army who stood with folded hands.

Characters & Entities

• Rāvaṇa
• Vajradaṃṣṭra

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

The verse highlights accountability in leadership: news of a key warrior’s death immediately moves the king to command and reorganize—implying that rulers must respond to events with clarity rather than denial.

What is the narrative situation?

Rāvaṇa receives battlefield intelligence that Vajradaṃṣṭra has been killed by Vāli’s son and turns to his army chief to issue instructions.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

Strategic attentiveness (rāja-dharma in the sense of command responsibility), though in Rāvaṇa’s case it serves his adharma-aligned war effort.